4th of July - nature center

We stayed an extra two days with Uncle Thad and Aunt Louise. 

The day after the rest of the family left, we went to a nature center with the kids. 

Our kids love nature and always find it interesting. 

They enjoyed looking at the few animals they had as well as the nature exhibits.

We enjoyed our time in Ohio, once again, and are so glad we've been invited back!

cutie patooties

When my toddlers hold hands, I think it's about one of the cutest things ever!

And another broken bone...

So, we had our lovely vacation the last two weeks of August...which I'll soon post about...and we came home, and within about a week: two toilets were out of commission, our dishwasher broke and leaked on the kitchen floor, each of the kids got a 36 hr fever/virus one after the other, Duke got into a cabinet and broke my blender, and Caleb broke his leg. It's a good thing vacation was restful because the next two weeks were NOT!

The following week, Garrick and Tom replaced the toilets, Braden diagnosed the problem with the dishwasher and decided it was time for a new one, we started school and Caleb was casted. One day that week, Tom and Garrick were working on the toilets, Braden was working on the dishwasher, my dad was tutoring Caleb with school, I was working one-on-one with Maddie, and my mom was watching the babies--caaarazy!! Someone was working on something in nearly every room in the house!

As if all that wasn't exciting enough, we went over a week with no dishwasher because Braden went to purchase our new one and decided on the model that would arrive the soonest--in two days. Great! Well, we failed to receive the call the day before that was supposed to tell us when they would come, so Braden called that night...only to find out that he had been given completely wrong information. He had in fact purchased the dishwasher that would take the LONGEST to arrive. Ooops! Instead of two days it was I think 9 days. I never realized how useful my dishwasher is. Dishes piled up SO FAST, it was ridiculous! My mom came over and rescued me at least twice by washing piles of dishes. Between caring for a bed-ridden boy (who also happens to be one of my two gophers and chore masters), doing his chores, doing the normal things of life, and starting school...and then trying to wash all the dishes...well, let's just say I'm not gifted enough to manage all that!

So, back to the broken leg...yes, two weeks ago Caleb broke his left leg. Went around a corner too fast on his bike and went down. The left leg was under the bike, and we're guessing the weight of his body came down on the bar on his leg and broke the bone, the tibia, front and center.

We weren't sure it was broken at first, as he settled down once we got him home and on the couch. But then he was really tired and took a nap even though it was early in the evening. And it wasn't very painful unless Braden moved his leg a certain way, then he'd be in tears. So reminiscent of his first arm break. We called our pediatrician, and since Caleb was comfortable and tired, he gave us the go-ahead to skip the ER and wait until morning and call the orthopedist for an emergency appointment first thing in the morning. Caleb slept fine that night and went to the doc first thing and, no surprise there, he'd broken his leg. Bummer.

A leg sure is worse than an arm. Caleb was in some pain for a few days, and so he was on the couch all day, and Braden carried him to the potty, down from bed in the morning and up to bed at night. Crutches have been pretty hard for him to manage, and he's gotten more places hopping on one foot or scooting on his bottom. Whatever works, right?!

On Monday, Caleb got his first cast off, which was orange and over-the-knee. It was replaced with an under-the-knee cast that's green and red, because Caleb said it's getting near Christmas and he wanted Christmas colors. :) He can start bearing weight on his foot now, and he has a little soft shoe to help with that. And in 3 weeks he gets his cast removed. It was originally going to be 4 weeks, but it's healing so well, they changed that to just 3. Must be that cod liver oil I'm giving him! :)

Dukeriffic!

I still need to finish off our summer, but I just have to post a quick Duke update. Duke at 14 months.

He's talking so much! Last week he said 5 new words in a row, one each day. Here's his current list of words:

bowl
down
fah (as in "fall down")
mama (For me, and for any and everything he wants! Normally it's said about 20 times in a row.)
dada
MAH! (Maddie--and yes, for some reason it's normally really loud)
up
pickle (for peekaboo, which he loves to play)
bye-bye
ball
cuppy
all don (as in Ring Around the Rosie, we all fall down)
go (normally, "Go! Go! Go!")
uh-oh
umm (which I consider a word because he uses it appropriately)
crakuh (cracker)
pat pat pat (as he pats his belly)
FaFa
PopPop
oaf (off)
ni-ni (goodnight)
no (his answer to eveything, either yes or no, and you're left to figure out which)

And I have to note that he says "no" in the cutest little voice. It's a very sweet "nooo" like he is thinking about it. So over 20 words, definitely a bit on the verbal side. With Maisie as his companion, who's surprised, haha! Duke can also sign "more" and "all done."

As you can see from the picture, he has just two teeth, but that doesn't stop him from eating. He hardly ate baby food, since he started eating regularly only near 10 months. And then he quickly didn't want anything to do with purees. By 12 months he wanted what everyone else was having. So he mashes all kinds of food with his two teeth and tough gums...ground beef, shredded chicken, potatoes, cooked carrots, beans, pasta, you name it. He loves it all! I'm grateful for another good eater.

One cute thing about Duke right now...when anyone is putting on shoes, or if I say it's time to get ready to go, Duke books it as fast as his fat legs can get him to the shoe box, pulls out his sandals, and comes to me with them, "Mama, mama, mama" until I put them on him. He loves his sandals and hasn't been to thrilled with the shoes I've started to put on him as the weather is growing colder. And he doesn't really like socks either. Always asking me to pull them off.

Our other favorite thing about Duke right now is the game he plays, mostly with Daddy. Daddy will say, "Give me a kiss." And Duke will say, "Nooo" in his cute little voice, and then Daddy will kiss him all over his neck and Duke will laugh hysterically. Sometimes Duke initiates the game by looking Braden in the face and saying, "Nooo."

And a funny thing about Duke right now is how many strangers talk to him, especially when I am pushing him in the stroller. I don't know what he does in that stroller, but whatever it is he sure gets attention! I've had all kinds of people stop to talk to Duke, from older men in cowboy hats, to women of all ages, to teenage boys, to middle-aged muscley men in tank tops and large gold necklaces. They all bend down a bit, look him in the eyes and greet him or start talking to him. It's so funny!

Welcome to the world!

I'm still catching up from the busy summer we had, but I have to interrupt writing about Duke's birthday celebrations to write about another very special birthday.

Annalisa Hope was born two days ago at 1:55pm after a looooooong 32 hour labor for Larissa. The labor itself went very well, no problems...it was just slow and long.

Around 5:30 in the morning on the 17th La noticed that she was having faint, regular contractions. They continued to come regularly and as the day wore on they picked up in intensity.

By 7pm they were coming every 3-4 minutes and they left for the hospital. I quickly joined them there...expecting to come home in the middle of the night of course.

But by 6am the morning of the 18th, La was only at 6cm...and by 8am, still only at 7cm. Larissa was a champ, because it was only at that point (after 26 hrs!) that she got an epidural. I'm so glad she did because it was another 6 hours before Annalisa was born.

I temporarily left at 9am just to quickly run home to nurse Duke. I was back within the hour and things continued to progress...slowly...and around 11:30am La began pushing...and then finally, just before 2pm, Annalisa made her appearance! We were so happy to see her! All 8lbs and 3oz of her.

Despite the odd look somehow captured on my face, I was so delighted to see her! After all, I'd been up ALL NIGHT waiting for her.

Welcome to the world little niece and cousin!

4th of July - Duke's first birthday!

We celebrated Duke's first birthday while visiting Uncle Thad and Aunt Louise. 

We also celebrated Aunt Gail's birthday since it was coming up soon. Louise made a delicious chocolate-raspberry roll.

I made the same "cake" I made for Maisie's first birthday, except I used blueberries this time. It's a simple no-bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, and it's very good!  Duke got his own little smiley-face cheesecake.

And Duke followed in Maddie and Caleb's footsteps and CRIED at his first birthday and didn't really enjoy his cake. A few finger dips and he was done. Nor did he wear his birthday crown (to be expected). Maisie's been our only baby whose enjoyed her first birthday and her cake.

He did like all of his presents though!

It wasn't until the morning of his birthday that it suddenly hit me that Duke had no presents! 

We had failed to buy him birthday gifts. 

I had been so preoccupied with packing for the trip that I forgot about presents. 

So Braden ran out that morning and bought some toys and books...

...and this Angry Birds outfit for Caleb to give his brother. How appropriate.

And I'll leave you with these cute pix of McLaren and Maddie.

 

4th of July

Once again we traveled to Ohio to be with Uncle Thad and Aunt Louise. The rest of Braden's family came too.

jack-in-the-box

Maisie took the sink out of her kitchen and made it into a high chair.

why?

At 2 years and 4 months old Maisie has hit the stage of "why." And my oh my has she hit it! And she is not satisfied with your answers, either.